‘Why women can’t enter Sabarimala temple’, asks Supreme Court

New Delhi, Jan. 11 (ANI): The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday questioned the prohibition on allowing women to enter the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala in Kerala, stating that such a practice had no constitutional basis.

Hearing a petition filed by the Indian Young Lawyers Association, the apex court asked the Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages the Sabarimala temple, to make its stance clear.

The next hearing in this case has been scheduled for February 8.

Traditionally, many temples bar menstruating women from entering the premises. In Sabarimala, women aged between 10 and 50 are not permitted to enter.

Last year in December, Laxmi Shastri, a social activist, had petitioned the court arguing that such bans on women violate Articles 14 (equality), 15 (prohibition of discrimination), 25 (freedom to practise any religion) and 26 (freedom to manage religious affairs) of the Constitution. (ANI)